Doctrinal differences are important to the Lutherans because at the root of every false doctrine is the devil, seeking to destroy the Gospel.

Monday, March 01, 2004 AD

If on your journey you shall encounter god…

"If on your journey you shall encounter god, god will be cut," says Hattori Hanzo, the Japanese sword smith, to The Bride as he presents her with his best sword made for her revenge killing spree.

That evening (15FEB2004) we had some guest pastors (Pastors Tom Harmon of Risen Savior, Jeff Crane of Holy Cross and Allen Hoger of Immanuel) at the University Lutheran Center at Wichita State University. This “Panel of Pastors” was there to answer questions about worship. Here are the questions that my wife and I asked with our commentary of ASKED or NOT ASKED:

Questions for the Panel of Pastors on WorshipFrom Terrible Swede and Mrs. Swede

In order to understand and have dialogue about the topic of worship some preliminary questions are necessary:

1. What is Theology of Cross? [ASKED]2. What is Theology of Glory? [ASKED]

With these questions answered, now we can ask the other pertinent questions:

1. What is worship? [ASKED]2. What is worship as defined by our Lutheran confessions? Biblical worship is already implied in our Lutheran confessions, duh. To say there is a difference is a to say what Walther said, “If there is anything Lutheran that is NOT Christian, then I do not want to be Lutheran.” [ASKED]3. Is worship a gathering of individuals or of the Body of Christ? [NOT ASKED]4. Does symbolism play an important part of our worship? [ASKED]5. When my wife and I were selling calendars for the ULC on a Saturday evening at Holy Cross, we saw a number of parishioners entering for the contemporary service as we staffed our booth in the mix area. (We did not attend that service.) Just before the service began, I noticed Pastor Myer, but he was not wearing his collar. My wife didn’t know who I was pointing out when I said “There’s Pastor Myer,” because he looked like all the other parishioners. How important is the symbolism of the pastoral collar in the role of leading worship, and does the lack of a collar typically lead visitors to the kind of confusion that my wife encountered, not knowing who the pastor was? [ASKED]6. We know that liturgy and worship are intimately tied together – we could rightfully describe it as a marriage. With this given and in the context of Lutheran Worship “Divine Service II,” p. 158, what part of our liturgy/worship is subjective? Non-subjective? [ASKED]a. The Service of Preparation?i. The Prelude?ii. The Ringing of the Bells?iii. A Hymn of Invocation?iv. The Invocation?v. The Confession of Sins?vi. The Absolution or Declaration of Grace?b. The Service of the Word?i. The Introit of the Day?ii. The Hymn of Praise?iii. The Salutation?iv. The Collect of the Day?v. The First Lesson?vi. The Gradual?vii. The Second Lesson?viii. The Verse?ix. The Holy Gospel?x. The Hymn of the Day?xi. The Sermon?xii. The Creed?xiii. The Prayers?c. The Service of the Sacrament?i. The Offering?ii. The Offertory?iii. The Preface?iv. The appropriate Preface?v. The Sanctus?vi. The Lord’s Prayer?vii. The Sanctusviii. The Lord’s Prayerix. The Word’s of Institution?x. The Peace?xi. The Agnus Dei?xii. The Administration of the Supper?xiii. The Post Communion Canticle?xiv. The Prayer of Thanks?xv. The Blessing?7. Comment on the following:a. Contemporary worship is a necessary corollary of Church Growth so, “Since man by nature is inclined to imagine that mere outward affiliation with the church secures his salvation, the great practical importance of ever defining the church as the communion of believers or saints, and not as an institution, an outward polity, is manifest.” (Christian Dogmatics, Francis Pieper) OR paraphrased, “Since man by nature is inclined to believe that growth in mere outward affiliation with the church constitutes church growth, the great practical importance of ever defining the church, …” [NOT ASKED]b. Lex Orandi, lex credendi is the ancient rule of prayer and worship. The rule of praying or the rule of worship is the rule of believing. Prosper of Aquitaine (5th century) first annunciated this maxim, “… As we worship, we will believe. As we believe, we will worship. The two are bound together and cannot be separated.” [ASKED]c. “We are often so caught up in our activities that we tend to worship our work, work at our play and play at our worship”(Charles Swindoll) [NOT ASKED]

My wife and I did include a couple of definitions of worship from the online Meriam Webster dictionary. We thought these were fair questions to ask and were able to compile them shortly before the ULC meeting (15FEB2004). When we presented a printed version of our questions to the Panel of Pastors, it seemed to upset Mr. Wiechmann. Since when do we need to have our questions or comments filtered by another layman?

We ask these preliminary questions because they lay a foundation of what worship is, why we worship and the how of worship. Matter of fact these preliminary questions cut to the heart in ALL subjects.